The Filipino Alliance for Transparency and Empowerment (FATE) has asked the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to ensure the integrity of the company that will supply quality indelible ink to be used for Election2022.
Jo Perez, the spokesperson of FATE, said the Comelec needs to be careful in selecting the contractor to infiltrate the low-grade indelible ink that could be used in fraud in the upcoming national and local elections.
This past Tuesday, August 17, the Comelec conducted online bidding led by the Bids and Awards Committee (BAC) with the help of Microsoft teams for indelible ink.
Ideal Marketing and Arik General Merchandising were immediately disqualified from bidding due to a technical issue. While ASA Color, T and E Enterprises, Topbest Printing, and MCX International were declared eligible bidders.
But FATE is now keeping the Comelec safe after receiving information that one of the bidders only has four employees. Hence, there is immediate doubt about how they will get the P72 million contract and how they will be able to fulfill it. They also allegedly showed the Mayor’s permit with a gross receipt of “0,” but they earned P10 million based on their audited financial report. This allegedly shows that they have not declared any income.
Comelec urged to ensure quality of indelible ink for 2022 elections
Meanwhile, FATE was also skeptical of another bidder when it was discovered that motorcycles were its main business. Perez said indelible ink would be supplied to the Comelec and not motorcycle oil or brake fluid.
Electoral ink, indelible ink, electoral stain, or phosphoric ink is a semi-permanent ink or dye applied to the forefinger (usually) of voters during elections to prevent electoral fraud such as double voting. It is an effective method for countries where identification documents for citizens are not always standardized or institutionalized.
Meanwhile, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) announced it would not extend the deadline for voter registration on September 30, 2021.
However, Comelec will extend the registration hours.
Rowena Guanzon said the en banc approved the extension of registration hours “Monday up to 7 PM and on Saturday up to 5PM.”
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